Dave Cushman writes:
Dee used the word acclimatised, which would be suitable,
but I'm afraid I do not agree with 'acclimatisation' being
related to a smaller bodily size.
Reply:
While the bees of the northern latitudes would be slightly
bigger then what we might keep for the bulk of bees
naturally raised, in the overall core of the broodnest
there would still be breakout for variability for the bees
to work with for problems of small, medium, and large size
for the area acclimitized to. But in considering that there
is only about a 2% size difference in the bee per each
degree of latitude change which isn't much, and looking at
how many latitude changes that would take to increase from
south to north, and knowing that even in UK old archives
show a size of about 5 cells within 1 inch (which
technically means slightly smaller) then in looking at
today's enlarged combs one might see a problem of for even
our more northern climates of having bees today on average
about .3mm oversize. But basically you follow the bees
needs and what they draw, and things over a period of years
straighten out with uniform body conformity in all worker
familys of the hives, besides other characteristics.
I totally agree with what you say concerning the honey, for
bees in the natural would have to use it, and why put all
that work into getting something that they cannot use.
But to get bees acclimitized to ones own area first comes
survivalability, and then building of numbers for
variability, and then when enough numbers are built up and
still following the bees and their needs and work habits,
comes the chance to select the best for the overall honey
production we seek while letting the poorest performers
just go that cannot hold during even average years of
working. Here is where sphere of infuence in build numbers
comes into play, but then this you would be aware of along
with acclimitizing.
Best Regards,
Dee A. Lusby
Small Cell Commercial Beekeeper
Moyza, Arizona
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/organicbeekeepers/
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